System a game-changer in mine warfare

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. – The commanding officer of the mine warfare center called the system a game-changer. It also affirmed Naval Oceanography’s mine warfare role. The new mine detection method is more selective and does the work in substantially less time than in the past. The concept of centralized data fusion was proven during the Frontier Sentinel '10 Homeland Defense mine warfare exercise earlier this month in Norfolk, Va. Data fusion takes information from multiple sources and "fuses" them into a stream more useful for analysis. Experts from Stennis Space Center's Naval Oceanography Mine Warfare Center and the Naval Oceanographic Office processed a majority of the data collected, fused and conducted analysis on all of the mine-like contacts, then advised which required diver identification. It reduced by 57 percent the number of mine-like objects that had to be checked. Significantly, in the past analysis took four times as long as data collection. This time it was 0.7 as long. The data fusion and analysis used upgraded software developed by the Naval Research Laboratory at Stennis. "We've never operated at this level before,” said Lt. Cmdr. Scott Parker, whose squad operated 14 unmanned underwater vehicles from multiple organizations collecting data. "It was a game-changer for mine warfare, and Naval Oceanography's role in it," said Cmdr. Matthew Borbash, NOMWC commanding officer. (Source: NNS, 06/28/10)